QUEEN VICTORIA
She came to the throne in 1837, when she was only 18 y.o and she ruled for almost 64 years. Her reign was
characterized by a period of economic and scientific progress and social reforms. In 1840 she married
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and they had 9 children. In 1857 Queen Victoria gave him the title of
Prince Consort. The 1830s was the beginning of an “age of reform”: in 1832 The first reform act had
transformed voting privileges to the middle classes; 1833 The Factory Act limited the work of children
(positive aspect) ; 1834 The Poor Law Amendment Act reformed the old Poor Laws; and WORKHOUSES
have been introduced: workhouses was a condition imposed by the government, as a way to improve
poor’s condition. Before, poor people were welcomed in the churches. As regard the philosophy, Spencer
said that poor people, deserve to be poor, because they are the weakest, and rich deserve to be rich
because they are the strongest. There was a Second Reform Act in 1867. In this period very important was
the Chartist Movement, where people were looking for new rights. In 1845 there was the Tragic Potato
Famine, lots of people died while others emigrated to America. In 1851 started a period of economic
progress, life changed thanks to museum, trains... There were also 2 Opium Wars against China. In 1870
there was the Education Act, that introduced board school in the poorer areas of the towns. In the past,
education was only for nobles, today is for everyone. The Victorian Age came to the and with the death of
Queen Victoria in 1901.
THE VICTORIAN COMPROMISE
It was a complex and contradictory period. It was the age of progress, stability, great social reforms but it
was also characterised by poverty and injustice. The Victorians believed in God and freedom was linked to
religion, and they promoted a code of values that reflect the world as they wanted it to be, based on
personal duty, hard work, respectability and charity. As regards Respectability, it was linked to education
and virtues and it was a mixture of morality and hypocrisy. Sexuality was a crucial aspect of respectability,
generally it was repressed in its public and private forms.
BENTHAM’S UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism is a social philosophy developed by Jeremy Bentham which is founded on the principles, that
human life can avoid the pain and reach pleasure. Utilitarianism explain that any problem could be
overcome thanks to reason.
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
In the first half of the 19th century, America was characterised by economic expansion and social change,
but there were differences between the North and the South. In the north there was a well industrialisation
and white population increased, while in the south, the economy was based on plantation of tobacco, and
cotton and on slavery, there was a rigid class system.
CIVIL WAR: in 1830s there were northern abolitions and it started a period of political movement: people
demanded that slavery can be excluded from all territories of the union. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the
presidential election. The civil war started in 1861 (and it ended in 1865), when seven southern states,
formed the confederate States of America, electing Jefferson Davis as president. Abraham Lincoln died in
1865, assassinated by a (southern) fanatic.
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY: the civil war ended the institution on slavery, but there was not equality between
black and white people. Black people were free but poor, without money and a home, so some, migrated
to the industrial cities in the north, but others remained there, in the south. Born the KU KLUX KLAN that
was a racist movement that underline/emphasize the importance of white people and that terrorised black
people and their families.
